Meth worth Millions Seized by Montana’s Drug Interdiction Teams

As part of Attorney General Tim Fox's AID (Addressing the Impact of Drugs) Program, drug interdiction teams patrolling Montana’s highway seized over 200 pounds of methamphetamine in 2017 alone worth between $1 and $2 million dollars on the street.

Administrator with the Criminal Investigation Division for the Montana Department of Justice, Bryan Lockerby, said he has been deeply impressed with the work that the interdiction teams have done.

“DCI’s role is to help the troopers who make those traffic stops to take that case further, right to the root of where those drug cases originate,” said Lockerby. “It’s one thing to intercept a load of dope, but it’s another thing to track it back to the source. I call it ‘cutting the head off the snake’ and be right on the front door of the cartel.”

Lockerby expanded on the source of the increasing volume of meth coming into Montana.

“The majority of all of our methamphetamine is originating from Mexico,” he said. “The cartels have dominated the market, they’re producing 99 percent pure meth, and no one locally can even compete with that. They are just saturating the market. Interdiction teams are seizing a higher volume of drugs, but the amount of dope that’s still coming in is staggering. In 2017, they had seized over 200 pounds, whereas the year before it was only 100 pounds, and the value, I can tell you, is easily in the $1 to $2 million range.”

Lockerby said he, as a long time drug investigator, is opposed to legalizing recreational marijuana in Montana.

“Over my years of experience, I do see a connection with marijuana,” he said. “I’m certainly not a fan of marijuana legalization, simply because of my experience and what I’ve seen”